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Chapter 5

"Oi! Malfoy! Get your head outta your arse and move it up those stairs!" His feet were dragging as he stumbled up the stairs. He let out a big yawn which only earned more shouts from the conditioning coach. Draco was beat. It had been late night with Granger, going over Quidditch basics and simple plays. He knew Hermione was normally a very brilliant witch, however it seemed that did not translate over well into the sports world. Throughout their hours in front of the white board down in the review room, Draco had learned Hermione'd never played a team sport.

She of course understood the basics of team work and how teams function together. She'd given him a long lecture about how just because she's never been on a sports team didn't mean that pairing up with Harry, Ron and the rest of Order to take down Voldemort didn't count as a team activity. To this Draco had rolled his eyes and continued explaining the X's and O's in regards to positions and plays. His eyes had begun drooping when they started watching old film from previous seasons. Draco found he was more than peeved when, after he'd spent the last half hour holding his eyelids open, he looked over to find Granger passed out at the desk.

To say he gingerly woke her up was far from the truth. Hence, she spent another half hour yelling about how her arse hurt from having the chair pulled out from under her and she would make sure he regretted that.

And so here he was. Having missed the five mile run yesterday due to his fall, Hermione had taken it upon herself to have Draco spend the morning making that run up, only instead of running it on a nice, flat surface she had the coach run him up and down the stairs o the stadium.

Taking the final step, he collapsed on the field, panting hard. His shirt was soaked in sweat and his calves were on fire. He could feel his hair sticking to his forehead. He hated that feeling. He'd considered getting a trim but the idea was quickly shut down by Michael. He thought the team needed more sex appeal. Right now, Draco wasn't sure he agreed.

"Alright Malfoy. Now get your broom and get in the air. Teams waiting for ya." Letting out a motivated grunt, Draco sat up, pulling himself off the pitch. Granger had taken a seat in the stands, Nigel by her side along with one of the assistant coaches.

Draco noticed her smug grin as he strained to retrieve his broom. He thought about flipping her the bird, but decided better of it. He'd find another way to let her know how he felt about her little warm up.

Practice went off without a hitch. Apparently Granger had mic'd O'Kelly and was intently listening to how the coach ran practices and drills. Draco had to admit, it appeared to be working well. O'Kelly must've figured his career was on the line as he had immensely stepped up his game. Draco wondered where this let's get real attitude had been hidden away before, but the effect was definitely having a positive outcome on the team.

At noon, the starters were sent to lunch. Granger and her squad came down from the stands, appearing to be going over some notes with the coach before the backups took the pitch. Draco had hung back just long enough to watch O'Kelly remove his ball cap and wipe away the sweat from his bald head in defeat. He put his cap back on, trying not to go red in the face and stormed from the group, headed straight towards Draco.

"Everything alright coach?" O'Kelly scoffed at Draco before realizing his tone.

"Apparently, they want Lucas to run the reserve team for now. They don't think I'm hard enough on the reserves to be coachin' 'em anymore. Load of bull if I ever did hear some." Draco gave a nod of his head in understanding. It wasn't that he didn't agree with Granger, he just didn't want to coach to know that it had been his suggestion in the first place.

He'd been surprised that Granger had agreed with him. That pulling something away from O'Kelly might just change his attitude towards his job. Hermione did leave out her idea of micing O'Kelly though. Had she suggested it, Draco would have absolutely agreed. He'd hoped that she kept the recording from practice today so he could catch all the bits that he'd missed while searching for the snitch.

It wasn't that Draco thought that O'Kelly was the worst coach in the world, he just thought the guy could use a little push was all. From what he'd heard from a few seasoned players and Michael when he ran into him a few days ago, the coach had just been floating along for some time now. When Granger hadn't fired him within her first day here, it was a surprise to everyone.

He'd heard that Granger did quite a bit of cleaning house her first week with the Falcons. The marketing coordinator of 16 years had been let go, along with most of his team. The young announcer they had hired last year was also replaced by someone with more energy and a flare for the dramatics. With those changes alone, pre ticket sales had gone up 20% from this time last season and that was without a full team roster released. No one could say Granger didn't really know what she was doing.

"Why don't we grab some lunch them coach. Seems like you've got the time. My treat." O'Kelly hung his head in defeat.

"I think I'll work on some plays for scrimmage this afternoon. I've got some tricks and plays they haven't even seen yet. We'll have to run through them on paper before the match starts. Show them what you starters can really do. You mark my words Malfoy. This team will win on Monday. You can bet on it."